Remember when you bought that new treadmill, a set of free weights, and the aerobics step, and you vowed to exercise every day? How’s that working out for you?
Have your fitness investments paid off? If your treadmill is being used more as a clothes rack and those free weights are doubling as doorstops, you aren’t alone. According to a new study, expectations of our behavior often don’t match reality.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say they have uncovered a specific process that they believe contributes to unrealistic optimism. What’s more, the scientists say they are eager to make their finds public to encourage consumers to think more realistically about their future actions.
The study followed participants, who provided idealized estimates for particular behaviors (e.g., In an ideal world, how often would you exercise next week?) Then, they asked participants to provide a second estimate (e.g. How often will you exercise next week?). In the end researchers say they found that when people are first asked to predict what would happen in an ideal world, and then asked how they actually expect to do, they are more realistic.
Basically, researchers found that most people who purchase home exercise equipment set unrealistic expectations and have lofty goals that are very rarely achieved. Consequently, researchers say, if a consumer “holds unrealistically optimistic beliefs about how often they will work out in the future, then they may overpay for home exercise equipment.”
Researcher say, interestingly they also found that more decisive people were less realistic. Meaning the guy who insists that he cannot live without a $900 Bowflex home gym because he harbors optimistic beliefs, will more often than not be the one who uses the equipment as a place to hang dirty clothes rather than employ it as a fitness tool.
How often do you use your home fitness equipment?
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